I do not own The Outsiders or any of S.E. Hintons characters.

Hey guys, I'm going to camp next week so expect no updates. Thanks for the great reviews, annnnnnddd AG Acid, thank you! Really appreciate that :)

And it gets interesting...quick catchup, they got hit by a bus ;)

Randy

My eylids fluttered open...what the hell? For a second my mind was blank, then the memories started flooding in. I flinched my eyes shut as I envisioned the bus speeding towards me, my body pararlyzed to the spot unable to avoid it. I was so concentrated on hurting that kid...maybe if I paid more attention I could've gotten out of the way in time...maybe...

My heart jumped into my throat when the ground beneath me suddenly began to move. "Get offa me," someone groaned. Two hands flipped me over on my back rolling me off them. I hit the ground hard, groaning as pain seared up my spine.

For a minute I was near paralyzed, not daring to move incase I would provoke it. Finally I reopened my eyes to see blue skies overhead. I stared at it unwillling to move, hearing a women scream for someone to call 911. Eventually I began to stretch out, testing my limbs and joints until I was convinced nothing was broken.

Somewhere to my left I heard cursing and a loud yelp. Propping myself onto one elbow I turned to see Dallas freaking out on Bob, his face as red as a tomato. Bob himself was still on the ground in a familiar position as myself, looking up at Winston with unbelieving eyes.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I jerked my head to my immediate left and met brown eyes. I froze. For a moment my brain stopped, convinced I was looking in a mirror. Then my heart sped up and my throat began to close in. In the very back of my mind I could hear Winston still yelling. The world began to spin and my stomach clenched, threatening to spilll its contents.

"Get up!" Hands from out of nowhere hoisted me up from under my armpits, pushing me forewards. I stumbled to regain balance, black All-Stars poking out from under dark jeans. These were not mine.

Suddenly I sprawled out on the ground tripping over a curb; tan, skinny arms stretched out infront of me to break my fall. "Common get up!" Someone yellled as I got shoved forewards back on my feet. I tore my eyes away from my hands and forced myself to look ahead to where I was going.

My mind was a mess though, I didn't realize we were turning down an alley until someone body checked me to the side, forcing me to turn. Beside me ran Paul, his hair matted down on his forehead and eyes wild. On my other side I caught a flash of red, no doubt Two-Bit. Winston and Bob ran infront, leading the pack. Behind me I could hear the thumps of footsteps on the hard concrete.

We stumbled to a stop in a untamed feild, pressed between four buildings. I knelt over putting my hands on my knees to catch my breath. My hands...tan and fragile they were the opposite of my own. Scars covered them in dark shades and shadows. No rings were on the fingers...my scar from playing chicken was missing...

A sudden wave of nausea came through me. Desperatly I ran to a garbage, leaning over it and spilling my guts.

Bob

I sat against the wall, trying to control my breathing. Shutting my eyes I leaned my head back, trying to find an obvious explanation for this. I couldn't find one. Feeling panic rising in me again I thought back to all the lectures my dad gave me. A panicked mind is a stupid mind, think logically and be in control and you'll win everytime.Of course that was about football, but it sounded pretty good right now too.

Groaning I rested my head in my hands, squeezing my eyes shut. When I opened them I found myself looking down at Dallas Winston. Gingerly I ran a finger along my jaw, down to my chin before resting my fingers on my lips. With my other hand I reached for the dark hair atop my head, rolling the soft strands between my fingers. Angrily I smacked my hand down on the puddled, making my reflection disappear. Feeling a little better I raised my head and watched to see how the others were handling it.

A dark haired greaser was wiping his mouth clean of bile, walking away from a garbage can. His bottom lip was beginning to bleed from the abuse by his teeth. Randy.

The guy with grey eyes we were following was pacing, running a hand through his hair every couple of minutes. By order of elimination and a bit of a guess I decided it was Paul. Watching my own body pat its pocket for cigerettes before finding the right one I figured that we all switched with another person, whoever we were close to when the bus came. Considering I woke up with my own passed out body ontop of me I knew that Dallas took over my body. So technically speaking Paul was contolled by rusty-haired guy and Randy by the tanned one.

Feeling my heart slow down I relaxed, feeling a bit more in control I figured that out. Watching Dallas pull off my ring and study it under a close eye I jumped up, ready for action. In the back of my mind I noted he slid it backonto his finger but my attention was more set on the expectant look in everyone eyes. Thay wanted me to say something. Shit, I didn't have any idea what to say or do for that matter. All I knew is I had to do something.

As if reading my thoughts one by one they came towards me, taking a place beside me until we created a circle. On one side was Randy, Paul and myself, and on the other our bodies. Silence took over the group before Randy spoke. "Is everyone alright?"

The silence lasted about another second before Paul (well his body) burst out laughing. "We got hit by a bus and have no idea what the fuck happened? Do you honestly think anyone's 'alright'? This is probably some twisted version of hell were all stuck in."

"Hey shove it!" I snapped. "We ain't in hell 'cause we ain't dead, if we were people wouldn't have been yellin' at us when we started running from the accident, would they now? So unless your gonna say something useful shut your mouth because we don't need any bullshit right now!"

Breathing heavy after my outburst I lficked my eyes back over to Randy ignoring Winston's eye roll, pleased by the silence. "Now what were you saying?"

He fidgeted uncomfortably before looking up with black eyes and shoving his hair off his forehead. "All I was askin' was how everyone was, I mean we did get hit by a bus. I wanna know if my body's gonna be screwed when we get things back to normal, s'all."

That caught everyone's attention. Unintentionally I ran my eyes along my body, looking for injury. Nothing but some cuts were visable so I looked to my eyes to check. Winston kept them as hard and unreadable as he did in his own body. Noticing my stare he smirked smudgly, making my temper rise. Shithead wouldkeep being a dick even in a situation like this.

"Well how 'bout it? Am I good? Cause there's a big game next week and I swear to god if I need to skip out on account of an injury-" Paul ranted on, staring his body-swtichee down intimidatingly. Everyone glared at each other, no one quite willing to give the other what they want. I was real glad when Randy finally spoke after a long exhale. He and the guy who switched with him made eye-contact and he continued. "I think your ribs are screwed up pretty bad, and so is your back. It feels like someone scraped it raw...nothing broke that I can tell though..."

"Yeah, that's good...I was pretty beat up before hand anyways. You're, uh, good. Aching a bit all over, but other than a few scratches I think you should be good."

Both seemed to relax a bit, remaining slighty stiff though. I flicked my eyes over to Paul along with everyone when the silence returned, who got real rigid. For a second he refused to speak, but then he broke and shrugged. "Feel like doing backflips," he muttered. Across from him his body nodded. "Kudos to that,"

Glad they both spoke I nearly smiled, until I realized all eyes were on me. Winston gave me a evil smile, trying to scare me into talking. I knew I had to or else we wouldn't be able to work together until we fixed ourselves, but I wasn't about to let Dallas win. "Pretty good, face is killing me though. Didn't know I packed sucha punch." I replied cooly. To my left I heard some snickers, but didn't look until I heard someone say, "You ain't a woofin'." The atmosphere changed in an instant.

Randy's switchee's head jerked up from the ground, his eyes wide in shock. Something was telling me he didn't mean for anyone to hear that. Across from him Randy gingerly raised his hand to his tanned cheek, his fingers breifly touching a scar. I saw Winston's eyes flicked between them before looking down at my rings and back to me. "Mother fucker!"

Paul

Dallas swore outloud again, raising his fist to Bob. He held it for a moment, looking suddenly distraught. "Fuck!" Letting out a growl he released Bob's collar, stalking over to the wall and hitting it until his fists bled. Then he just stood there, his back to us and his shoulders rising and falling violently. He was like a caged animal that got teased a little too long and snapped. No one moved, I didn't even dare to breath. Finally he spun back around and grabbed Bob with both arms, twisting his collar and smearing blood on his neck from his knuckles. "As soon as we switch back to normal, you're mine." he threatened in a low husky voice. He was still enraged, still scary as hell but obviously a little more in control.

The only thing that could be heard was his heavy breathing for a minute, then he let go of him before spinning around and pushing through our circle to sit against the wall. My eyes stayed on his form as he pulled grass from the ground and ripped it up but a voice brought my attention back. "Anyone got any ideas about how to get back to normal?" my body-switcher asked, his eyes meeting mine. I shrugged. How the hell was I supposed to now, this wasn't exactly a common situation.

"Well I dunno either," Randy said, "But we better figure out soon cause I have to be home before eleven."

. . .

We were sprawled out on the ground, tired from standing. The sky was now dark, and we were plum out of ideas. It seemed we'd thought of everything, from getting hit by another bus to finding a magical stone. Despite our agreement to get along until we figured things out every idea got shot down so fast everyone had stoppped even bothering saying anything anyways. It didn't help the one wouldn't stop cracking jokes about us. Because a cheap leather jacket is definatly so much better than a light sweater with this eighty plus degree weather. I'd thrown it off as soon as I could. My head felt heavy with grease and my hand was oily from all the times I touched it instinctivly. Ants kept crawling on me from the ground and biting and the grass was making me itchy. I felt dirty and uncomfortable and just wanted to get back to normal and take a long hot shower.

The reality of the situation came in with the dark, the dream-like feeling had passed making me feel out of place and lost. It didn't help that no one else seemed to be able to sit still either, and with each fidget I felt my nerve shortening. After watching Randy check his wrist one more only to find it without a watch I nearly freaked. Thank god his body-changer pulled it off his own and threw it to him or else I really might've lost it. Shutting my eyes I leaned back, feeling the tiredness wash over me. Taking a few deep breaths I calmed down, feeling my muscles relax. Nearly in peace I propped myself back up on my elbows and looked around, hearing some birds chirping breaking up the silence.

"Maybe we should just go home and sleep on it, come back and figure thing out tomorrow with a clear head." Randy suggested, giving the watch another look with a frown. With his old man I couldn't hold it to him.

"Yeah, 'cause your folks definatly wouldn't notice you switched bodies with a right 'ole greaser, huh?" Dallas scoffed. He hadn't exactly joined back into the group again but he sat closer to us now, right behind Randy's body so his feet were nearly touching him, refusing to even look at anyone except his buddies. Once he caught me looking at him though and gave me such a cold glare I swear I got goosebumps.

"No, they wouldn't." Randy said, looking up so his tanned face was a bit more visible, his black eyes gleaming. "Since y'all be going instead of me." Almost immediatly everyone protested.

"No way I'd let that scum-"
"-fuck it up-"
"-trust him with-"
"-in hell I'd let a grease-"

I stayed silent, seriously considering it. Sleep didn't sound to bad right now, and it'd just be one night. I wasn't about to spend the night outside either. I mean we could literally talk to no one, go straight to our rooms, wake up early, it'd be fine. No one would notice anything, and if they did it's not like they'd think of what actually happen.

"You can't honestly be considering this?" Bob said, giving Randy an incredious look. Randy looked at me pleadingly; shit he noticed my silence. I ignored it and looked away, but could still feel him staring. Finally I shrugged. "It's not that bad of an idea...I mean we go straight into the rooms, wake up early...no one would know..."I said weakly.

"Yeah I guess," I looked up in shock when one of the greasers, Randy's body, agreed quietly. The one beside him, my body, shrugged. "Spend a night in a socy house, I'm in," he said uncharacteristically emotionless for him.

We looked at Bob and Dallas. "It's up to you two, but we're doing it. Spend the night outside, fine by me."

Dallas spoke up a little too fast. "Naw, I'm game."

Bob looked up, his jaw literally dropped. "There's not a way in hell I'm gonna allow that."

Dallas smirked. "Just try an' stop me." For a second Bob looked way too much like the real Dallas, glaring hatefully in his directiong. But as soon as it came it stopped, and a cocky smile flitted on his lips. "Fine, then I'm doin' it too. And if you try an' screw around with my life, I swear to god I will fuck with yours so bad you'll be the laughing stock of the town."

They both refused to look away from each other for a moment, until Randy cleared his throat a little too forcefully. "We'll then let's-"

"Wait," I interrupted. "What's even my name? And where the hell am I sleeping tonight?"

My body gave me a cocky grin, answering for everyone. "You're Dallas Winston, you're Johnny Cade," he said, pointing to Bob and Randy."And you good lookin' fellow is Two-Bit Mathews." he finished on me. "As for sleeping, y'all might wanna stick together so I'd say the Curtis'. No chance of 'rents there, should be left alone pretty good if it's late enough."

My stomach clenched inside me, my ears tuned out as he elaborated on where it was. I already knew that, anyhow. It was a place I hadn't been since highschool and a person I hadn't seen for just as long. Our friendship was destined to fail, he was a greaser and I was a soc. It almost survived but then his folks died and he fell backwhile I moved forewards. It didn't matter anyways, he was just a dirty greaser that always got the short end the stick. I was better off without him pulling me back anyways. I flinched as I realized the resemblance of my thoughts to my dads long-winded speeches he gave me through highschool.

Taking a breath and reassuring myself I looked up and tried to pay attention to Bob. "-sleepover at Randy's, just make sure to phone those numbers I gave you as soon as soon as your in so our 'rents won't be wonderin' where we're at. As soon as your there go to his room, it's on the second floor, and stay put. Don't talk to anyone, look at anyone and remember who you are. Oh, and if his dad starts lecturing you just nod your head and smile, no matter what he's saying agree."

As we were all standing up Randy took off his watch and tossed it to Johnny. "Oh, and you have about thirty minutes to find my place. Try not to be late, trust me."

"And don't you dare wreck my car!" Bob added, giving Dallas a stern look. He just smirked back, turning and leaving without a word.

We took off in the opposite direction, ignoring the dirty glares we got from a couple people. Jeez, honestly I'm not even a hood, what's there problem? We reached the tracks in about ten minutes and stopped, looking at it hesitantly. Taking a breath I looked up. "Y'all ready?"

Bob gave a nod and Randy slouched down. They looked like real greases. Taking another breath I followed suit. "Then let's do this."

. . .

Good length huh? :) And when I was typing it the powere went off...twice. -_- Sorry if Paul was pretty bad, but I'm tired and did it twice and honeslty think it's horrible compared to my first one I typed. :(

So as I've said I'm going to camp, so updates in like a week. You like? Review. Dislike? Review. Thoughts? Review. Ideas? Review. So basically, please review! Really appreciated!

Love y'all!

smile.